Certain electronic circuit applications may require intermediate voltages to be generated in addition to the maximum positive and negative supply voltages applied from outside. It is generally known that semiconductor components are designed for certain blocking voltages for reasons of the manufacturing process used. Hence, voltage differences within a component manufactured according to such a process must not exceed the appropriate blocking voltages. For example, the differences in voltages which lie between the base region, insulation/substrate (bulk) terminal and the collector terminal, i.e. its epitaxial regions, in a bipolar NPN transistor fabricated by integrated circuit process. The structure of semiconductor components is known and this aspect needs no further discussion.
Systems are known which provide intermediate voltages over a wide range of supply voltages applied from outside. Intermediate voltage values between those of the applied voltages from may be realized, for example, by a voltage divider. However, such voltage divider methods are characterized by a relatively high power dissipation or by poor dynamic stability, for example, resulting from capacitive coupling between epitaxial regions and the substrate.